Summary: It’s all fun and games until Shane starts screaming when splashed with holy water.
For how much Shane hated, even feared, holy water, he was always relieved to see Ryan with his dinky little squirt gun. He had no idea if it worked on ghosts but it sure as hell worked on demons. He tested that himself and it was something he never wanted to feel again.
When they were getting ready for a shoot, Shane didn’t touch the container the holy water was in. If it was in the squirt gun, he’d hold it by the holster to hand it to his boyfriend. The holy water in a water bottle was a little harder to get around, but he managed.
Ryan was a smart guy. Shane knew that full well. The shorter man could have his silly moments like anyone else, but Ryan was easily one of the smartest people he’d met his whole life-- and that was saying something.
“Shane?” Ryan called from the living room. Shane was in the kitchen making dinner while Ryan found something for them to watch.
“What you ever seen Constantine?”
“Uh...no. I read the graphic novel it’s based off of in college, though. Hellblazer, I think?” Shane kept working on their spaghetti.
“Was anything in it accurate?”
“You’d have to tell me, Ry. You know more about demons and that sort of stuff than I do. I just read it because it was by the same guy that wrote V for Vendetta.” Shane turned away from the stove when he heard Ryan coming closer to him.
Ryan cupped Shane’s face in his hands, looking into the taller man’s eyes. The same brown eyes he’d fallen in love with a year ago.
“You oka-” Shane let out a scream when Ryan took a plastic water bottle from his back pocket and splashed him in the face with the holy water inside it. He doubled over and moaned into his hands. After a minute or so, he was panting.
“Who the fuck are you?” Ryan demanded.
“Ryan, wai-” Shane screamed again when the holy water was splashed on him again. “I’m Shane. You don’t understand-” again he screamed, his eyes turning black.
“How long have you been possessing my boyfriend, you demon fuck?”
“Longer than you’ve been alive, kid.” Shane’s smooth voice was replaced with one low and gravelly. The stark difference coming from Shane’s mouth made Ryan take a step back.
“You know what they say: war is hell. This poor kid’s laying in no-man’s land, his lungs turning to mush in his chest. I wanna stay outta hell… 19 year-old, fresh outta high school, doesn’t want to die… I jump in him and watch his life unfold like a movie. Pretty sweet setup.”
Ryan terrified. No-man’s land? He vaguely remembered the term from high school but Junior year was too far back. Shane talked about no-man’s land when they watched All Quiet on the Western Front. The space between the trenches.
“Shane died in World War One?”
“Almost. It’s my...he’d say ‘mojo’ keeping everything in his skinny-ass body moving.”
The black eyes flickered and the brown was back. Shane was back.
“Ryan, please. I can explain better than he can.” Shane’s eyes were filled with pain because of the holy water and fear of what Ryan was going to do. His eyes hesitantly looked to the plastic water bottle.
“Then do it. What the fuck is going on?”
Shane trembled slightly at the anger in Ryan’s voice. “I was in WW1, you got that right. I was drafted two months after I graduated. We were in the trenches. Cold, soaking wet, out of food, and crawling with rats, flees, lice, and who knows what else.
“Some German who stumbled his way through no-man’s land gassed us. It sinks so we were supposed to go to higher ground. I moved too fast, got outta the trench before it started sinking and I forgot my mask in the trench.
“The demon, Therpen, found me. Everything hurts when you get mustard gassed. It hurts to breathe, it hurts to blink. I just wanted to die but Therpen said if he possessed me, it would keep him out of hell and stop my pain, so I said yes. I just wanted the pain to stop.”
“That’s not Therpen. That’s me. Therpen doesn’t control me, Ry. He’s just along for the ride and keeps my body going. I do love you. I promise I do.”
Ryan had to think. His boyfriend was possessed by a demon and he should have died a little over 100 years ago. What the hell was he supposed to do with this? His boyfriend was possessed by a demon and older than his great-grandfather.
“Please. Say something.” Shane pleaded.
“You really- everything over the last year has nothing to do with…”
“No, no. Nothing at all. My love for you, Ryan, is genuinely something I feel. Demons don’t feel emotions.”
Ryan contemplated for a moment. This Therpen had nothing to do with their relationship aside from the fact that he was Shane’s personal generator.
“I...love you too. Just-just, why didn’t you tell me about this?” Ryan capped the holy water and put the bottle back in his back pocket.
“I didn’t want to scare you. I don’t like seeing you scared, Little Guy.”
Ryan took another step back and Shane felt his heart clench. “The whole time...the whole two years I’ve known you. After all the shit you’ve given me for trying to find proof of the supernatural and there’s been a fucking demon has giving you life support for 100 years?” Ryan clenched his hands into fists and resists the urge to splash him with the holy water.
“That’s how it worked; playing...devil’s advocate for lack of a better phrase.”
“You never once could have mentioned that you didn’t think I was crazy? Damn, Shane.” Ryan pinched the bridge of his nose. “I just- I’m not scared of you. I’m just fucking pissed. All this time and you never fucking trusted me.”
“I do trust you. That isn’t why I never told you.” Shane’s tone of voice became softer. “You get so scared so easily. I’m sorry.”
“I need time to think.” Ryan dropped the holy water on the kitchen table and grabbed his jacket.
Ryan came back two hours later. Two bowls of now cold noodles sat on the kitchen table. Shane slept in what must have been an uncomfortable ball on the couch. The younger man sighed with a shake of his head. He took the blanket from the back of the couch and laid it over Shane. He made his way to the kitchen to get a glass of water.
Shane stirred on the couch and his sleep clouded eyes donned confusion when he noticed the blanket on him. Finally, he looked up and saw Ryan. “You came back.”
“Yeah.” Ryan scratched the back of his neck.
Shane stood and folded the blanket, draping it back over the couch. “Any decisions or is the jury still out?”
Ryan thought about how to word his next question. “This demon, Sherpin or whatever, doesn’t impact your choices? It just keeps you alive?”
“It just keeps me alive.” Shane confirmed.
“I’m not going anywhere, Big Guy.”
Shane felt instant relief at Ryan’s words. He wanted nothing more than to kiss the younger man, but he wasn’t sure how Ryan would react at this moment.
“Are you hungry?” Ryan questioned.
“I’m good.” Shane shrugged.
Ryan cocked his head to the side, doubting the man’s words.
Ryan chuckled and put the bowls in the microwave. Shane got them something to drink.
“You know how we don’t get a lot of activity in the demon episodes of unsolved?”
“That’s uh, that’s because of me and Therpen. I don’t want to risk you getting hurt or scared so Therpen shows himself when you aren’t looking and scares them off.” Shane was shocked when Ryan started laughing.
“After learning my boyfriend is being possessed by a demon, I don’t think anything you say can surprise me anymore.”
“How do you… How did you even figure it out? I never said anything. I was so careful.”
Ryan scratched the back of his head as the microwave went off. “I was uh, I was tagged in someone’s fanart on Twitter. You know how some fans ‘think’ you’re a demon? Splashing you was supposed to make you laugh, not scream. I had no fucking idea.”
It was Shane’s turn to laugh. “Can I see the fanart?”
Ryan’s cheeks turned red and Shane smirked. “It can’t be worse than anything we’ve done.”
That night, they laid in bed and Shane was careful not to move too much. Ryan rolled onto his side and looked at Shane through the darkness.
“What are you doing, Shane?” Ryan asked. “Did I hurt you?”
“I did after the first time.” Ryan sat up and turned on the lamp. “I-”
“Me screaming wasn’t the reaction you were expecting.” Shane sat up. “It’s okay. I’m not in pain and you came back, so everything’s okay.”
Ryan scooted closer to Shane and Shane reached over him to turn off the lamp again. As soon as they laid down again, Ryan curled into Shane’s side and the taller man didn’t waste a second in wrapping his arms around the shorter man. It didn’t take long for them to fall asleep.
